Inhofe charges 'president clearly has retreated'

By Mackenzie Weinger

09/01/13 10:44 AM EDT

President Barack Obama “clearly has retreated” from his position on Syria, Sen. Jim Inhofe charged on Sunday.

“If you’re going to say something, you’ve got to back it up, and this president clearly has retreated from the position that he took, not just in the last couple of days, but about a week ago when he talked about a red line,” the Oklahoma Republican said on “Fox News Sunday.”

Inhofe, the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, which he noted would be meeting Wednesday, said he doesn’t believe Congress will approve the use of military force. And he said, “For some reason nobody wants to talk about the real serious problem here and that is the condition of our military today,” which he added is “so degraded now.”

“A week ago I said I would oppose going in and having military intervention against Syria,” Inhofe said. “It may sound real easy when people like Secretary [John] Kerry say that this is going to be quick and we’re going to go in, and we’re going to send a few cruise missiles, wash our hands and go home. It doesn't work that way. This could be a war in the Middle East. It's serious.”